Fish Identifier

Fish Encyclopedia

Search and identify 1,000+ fish species — freshwater, saltwater, reef, and pelagic — with habitat, size, diet, behavior, and how to tell them apart.

Long-snouted Seahorse

Long-snouted Seahorse

The long-snouted seahorse, also known as the spiny seahorse, is a slender species of the Mediterranean and northeastern Atlantic with a proportionally long snout and often ornate skin filaments used for camouflage in seagrass beds.

saltwater
Dusky Grouper

Dusky Grouper

The dusky grouper is a large, dark brownish-grey grouper native to rocky reefs of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic, once heavily depleted by spearfishing and now a conservation priority in parts of its range.

reef
Doubletooth Surgeonfish

Doubletooth Surgeonfish

A sawtail surgeonfish of the genus Prionurus, marked by rows of forward-angled bony 'teeth' on the tail base instead of a single blade-like spine; found on rocky reefs of the eastern tropical Atlantic.

reef
Alewife

Alewife

A small, silvery anadromous herring native to the Atlantic coast of North America, recognizable by a single dark shoulder spot, that migrates from the ocean into freshwater rivers and lakes each spring to spawn.

brackish

Southern Blue Whiting

The southern blue whiting is a slender, schooling Gadidae found in cold Southern Hemisphere waters around South America and New Zealand, closely resembling its North Atlantic relative but occupying entirely separate populations.

pelagic
Pacific Herring

Pacific Herring

A slender, silvery schooling fish closely related to the Atlantic Herring, found in cold coastal waters across the North Pacific, where it forms a critical forage base for fish, seabirds, and marine mammals.

pelagic
Lionfish

Lionfish

A striking, striped reef predator native to the Indo-Pacific, now a widespread and ecologically disruptive invasive species across the Western Atlantic and Caribbean, easily recognized by its fan-like fins and venomous spines.

reef
Lemon Shark

Lemon Shark

A stocky, yellow-brown coastal shark named for its sandy coloration, recognized by two nearly equal-sized dorsal fins, common in shallow mangrove and reef habitats of the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific.

cartilaginous
Bluehead Wrasse

Bluehead Wrasse

A small, abundant Caribbean reef fish famous for changing color and sex as it matures, with terminal males developing a striking blue head and green body. It is one of the most numerous fish on western Atlantic reefs.

reef
Spanish Sardine

Spanish Sardine

A schooling pelagic fish found throughout warm Atlantic and Mediterranean waters, the Spanish Sardine is larger than the related European Sardine and forms an important forage species across its wide tropical to subtropical range.

pelagic
Allis Shad

Allis Shad

A large anadromous herring relative native to Europe's Atlantic coast, the Allis Shad spends most of its life at sea but migrates into large rivers each spring to spawn, forming runs that have been much reduced.

brackish